Julius Rolshoven (1858–1930) was an American painter, teacher, and internationally recognized artist whose career bridged European academic traditions and the American Southwest. Born in Detroit, Michigan, He studied at Cooper Union before continuing his training under Hugo Crola in Düsseldorf and Ludwig von Löfftz in Munich. There he joined the circle of Frank Duveneck, one of the celebrated "Duveneck Boys", and accompanied the artist to Venice and Florence before completing his studies in Paris under Tony Robert-Fleury and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. A gifted portraitist and genre painter, Rolshoven taught in Paris and London and earned numerous international honors, including a silver medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, an Honorable Mention at the 1900 Paris Exposition, and a bronze medal at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.

After returning to the United States during World War I, Rolshoven settled in Santa Fe, where the landscapes and Native American cultures of New Mexico inspired many of his finest works. A member of the Taos Society of Artists and an Associate of the National Academy of Design, Rolshoven became known for his luminous portraits and Southwestern scenes, combining the refined techniques of the European Old Masters with the distinctive light and color of the American West.